Dear Governor Brown and the State of California:
I've been noticing a lot of large-scale state-centric activism altering the geography of American political power lately. Some states as political units are pushing for broad change by implementing it on their own, becoming massive pilot projects for the nation. Consider the moves that are being made by Washington, Colorado, Oregon, and soon California, in opposition to the federal government. This gaining and defining of political rights and powers that has received so much attention in the media is part of a wider tendency of nature to delegate demanding tasks to increasingly specialized executive organs and to evolve pathways that shift weight downward to correct top-heavy systems.
The attempts of lower levels of government to differentiate themselves will of course be met with mixed success. Some innovations, such as NYC's large soda bans, have been ridiculed as poorly conceived and sloppily enacted. Other changes, those more successful ideas that have been implemented peacefully and thoughtfully, have fascinated the nation and have convinced many that the local men and women who govern the states are more capable and more in touch with their citizens than the distant capital can ever be. Soon, California will follow the leads of Washington and Colorado and vote on whether to defy the DEA in order to legalize a Schedule I drug. Of course, "defy" seems to be too strong of a word, since the capital hasn't truly taken a stand against the states who have blatantly disregarded its policy. The federal government, too big and too busy to enforce consistently even its most notorious statutes, has implicitly permitted this assertion of state sovereignty, and it is in the interest of every American to find out what other rights of decision-making we can claim.
The authorities that govern California, including the citizens at large, unfortunately missed their opportunity to set a truly landmark precedent and compete politically by being the first state to claim the right to legalize marijuana. There are other opportunities, however. I believe that the State of California should demonstrate to other states and to the federal government, which is too big and too busy to negotiate all of this world's controversies, ways in which money might be better spent and people might be freed through previously unconsidered political innovations. There are so many possibilities for how government might be made more efficient. Legalizing a peaceful, profitable, relatively harmless crop is just the first step.
California has the chance and the duty to pioneer the next state sovereignty activism project, and it needs to be something big. My suggestion is to amend California's tax code to offer households unlimited dollar-for-dollar tax deductions for private contributions to non-profit organizations. A huge part of California's burden is taking care of people, which we currently attempt to do through inefficient welfare programs that are too bureaucratic to be efficient and too impeded by political distractions to be fully dedicated to their causes at the collective level. Non-profit charities meet needs where governments fails to, and they do it with fewer people and fewer resources more successfully than overburdened governments. Specialization is the life force of economic efficiency. Let governments govern, but let us delegate to charity specialists the care and keeping of the needy--the poor, sick, orphaned, jobless, homeless, and mentally anguished. Giving public programs the chance to compete with private efforts for funding and attention through unlimited deductible charitable qualified contributions would not only hold our public programs to a higher standard, but would also reveal the true preferences of California's citizens and allow highly respected, well-established, innovative groups to do what they do best: alleviate the suffering of the impoverished and outcast. Such a change may be initially seen as drastic, but taking advantage of charitable giving as a way to correct California's dire economic situation is not nearly as drastic as allowing our state to stagnate and bankrupt itself while our people grow hungry, poor, weak, and embittered against their leaders and protectors. Our financial and human resources should be freed to flow to where they are most valued.
Most of what goes on in government has been tried before, many times, with only timid changes and semantic differences; it's no wonder we see only negligible improvements at best. Consider something really new: a government that isn't afraid of asking for help from privately organized, conscientious citizens. Let some of our tax dollars skip the politicking and go straight into the hands of the volunteers, the healers, and the servants of the under-served. Most importantly, let the people decide who deserves to spend these hard-earned wages. Can you imagine a government that ASKS for money instead of taking it? Can you imagine a government that acknowledges its lesser talents and hands a small portion of the reigns over to those more qualified and more passionate? Americans are extremely charitable as individuals. Let's invest in that spirit, and use it to solve some of our very glaring problems.
I hope you will consider deeply the role California might play in liberating the process of political evolution from the sluggish, porcine, distant federal government by empowering citizens and setting an example to other states who also are looking for big solutions to big problems. Legislation to independently legalize non-violent black markets, grant amnesty to illegal immigrants, withdraw support for dangerous imperial foreign policy, end police brutality, improve transparency, and decrease corruption are all within California's reach. In short, California could become a much better place. I look forward to your reply and would be happy to talk with you further about these ideas. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Laralyn Murphy
